Sanitary closet.



H. Y. SCARBOROUGH & 1. G. KING..

SANITARY CLOSET.'

APPLICATION FILED Nov. III, I'9I3. `IIEIIEWEIJ SEPT. 27. I9I6.

Patented Apr. 24, 1917.

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'HARRY Y. SCARIBOROUGH, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, AND vTAIYI-ILlSYGr.KING', OF

SUPERIOR, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNORS, BY DIRECT AND ME-SNE ASSIGNMENTS, TOAUTO- l MATIC CHEMICAL CLOSET COMPANY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, A.CORPORA-- TION -OF MINNESOTA.

SANITARY cLosnT.

Patented Apr. 24;, 191 '7.

Application led November 18, 1913, Serial No. 801,726. Renewed September27, 1916. Serial 110,122,545.

To all whom 'it may concern: I y

Be it known that we, HARRY Y. SGARBOR- oUGI-I and JAMES G. KING,citizens of the United States, residents, respectively, of

Minneapolis, county of Hennepin, State of Minnesota, and Superior,county of Douglas, State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Sanitary Closets, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of our invention is to provide a sanitary closet having meansfor concealing the human excreta and provided with a sprayingl device bymeans of which all germ life will be destroyed.

,The invention consists generally in various constructions andcombinations, allas hereinafter described and particularly `pointed outin the claims.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification,

Figure 1 yis a vertical ysectional view through a closet embodying ourinvention, taken on the line y-g/ of Fig. 2,"looking in direction ofarrows,

Fig. 2 is afhorizontal sectional view of the closet,

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view showing a modified construction kofthek spraying device, V

Fig. 4c is a detail sectional view, showing the pump deviceforl sprayingthe chemical solution into the closet,

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view, showing the valve for controlling thegravity feed or spray to the closet.

In the drawings, 2 represents an outer casing Aof suitable. material,preferably metal, provided with a spout 3 at therear having a top 4whereon the seat cover 5 is hinged. A. discharge pipe 6 is provided inthe bottom ofthe casing 2, having a seat 7 for the cone-shaped valve 8,which is adapted to drop down uponthe seat within the pipe 6 and form atight joint with the pipe,pre yventing' the discharge of the contents ofthe closet.

Extending upwardlyand outwardly from the pipe 6 is a wall 9. A tankorreservoir 10H is'placed within ,the casing and spaced lfrom thewallsthereopf and encircles the wall 9 and contacts with theu upper edgethereof.

This tank is preferably circular in form and adapted tocontain adeodorizing and sterilizing agent composed of some suitable chemto thevalve 8 andl also to a disk 12 which is arranged above the valve 8. Anupright rod 13 is mounted von the valve 8 yand projects upwardlythroughthe disk 12 and a disk 14 having preferably a convex upper surface, ishinged on the upper end of the rod 13 and adapted to tilt downwardly onone side until the stop v15 contacts with said rod, this tilting takingplace when the eXcreta falls upon the disk, and is thereby directed intothe bottom of the receptacle. The disks are preferably made ofporcelain, or of metal coated with porcelain, and normally the lowerdisk will be wholly or partially submerged in the chemical solution inthe tank. The disk is preferably made heavier on one side, as indicatedat 14 in Fig. 1, so that it will normally assume a horizontal position.

At the top of the tank 10 is an inwardly vinclined wall or flange 16,also beneath the seat opening and provided with transverse slots 17inwhich the rods 11 are vertically slidable, the central opening in thewalls 16 being 'of sufhcient diameter to allow the disks to be raisedentirely out of the closet, the offset portions ofthe rods 11 slidingthrough the slots 17 "during the vertical movement of the rods intheoperation of removing the disks. The upper ends of the rods 11 are-prefer-ably lthreaded and provided with thumb nuts 18 having clips 19for securing them in place. When these thumb nuts are screwed verticallyon the rods, the lower disk or valve 8 will'be forced 4down firmly vuponits seat andthe discharge opening hermetically sealed. y

Thedisk 14' and the wall-'16 coperate to conceal the 'contents ofthe'receptacle and prevent it from 'swashing about and` over the sidewalls of the tank when the closet is in use in a railway coach or othervehicle, and the disk has the further function of aiding in breaking upand separating the eXcreta and effecting a more thorough mixture withthe chemical solution.

The casing has an opening 20 communisoA cating over the top of the tank10 with the interior of the closet and with the spout 3 that leads to aVentilating pipe 23. This Ventilating pipe extends to a chimney or othersuitable Ventilating stack, not shown. A removable guard or shield 24 isprovided beneath the cover 4 and extends under and around the seatopening and arranged to cover an air space 25 between the outer casingand the tank and the lower portion of the casing has port holes 26therein leading to said air space and through these ports and the airspace currents of air circulate around the tank and over it and beneaththe guard ring 24, and finally pass out through the opening 20 to theVentilating stack. This guard ring 24 is readily removable when it isdesired to lift the rods 11 `and remove the valve and disks from thecloset.

For delivering a suitable quantity of chemical solution into thereceptacle of the closet we provide a pump device extending down-intothetank and comprising a cylinder 27 having a valve 28 communicating withthe tank, a plunger 29 and an operating rod 30. A hub 31 is provided atthe upper end of the pump cylinder, on which is mounted a handwheel 32by means of which a` limited rotary movement may be imparted to the pumpcylinder. The rod 30 extends up through this hub and a suitable packing33 and is pro-vided with a hand grip 34 by means of which the rod andplunger may be operated. A pipe 35 is mounted at one end in the cylinderof the pump and extends horizontally therefrom under the cover 4 and hasa downwardly turned inner portion 36 provided at its lower end with asprayer 37. This sprayer normally stands in the position indicated byfull lines in Fig. 2 at one side of the center of the disk 14, butwhenever it is desired to spray th'e disk, the pump cylinder is rotated,swinging the depending sprayer portion 37 inwardly to a point where thesprayer is concentric substantially with the disk beneath. The pumpplunger is then operated and asuitable quantitv of chemical solution isadmitted into the receptacle and the contents thereof are in stantlysterilized and deodorized. The chemical solution falling upon the disk,which will usually assume a tilted position, will wash away any excretathat may have adhered thereto and will thoroughly disinfeet the surfaceof the disk and destroy all germ life in the closet. The receptacle willalso throw off a gas from the disk surface which will neutralize any gaswhich may arise from the contents of the receptacle. The neutralizing ofthis gas will prevent corrosion of the metal parts of the closet.

Instead of using a force feed in connection with the chemical solution,we may provide a gravity tank 38 located a suitable distance above thecloset an'd having a feed pipe 39 communicating with a casing 40 andv avalve 41 arranged therein, said valve hav ing a stem 42 and a hand wheel43 for rotating it from an open to a closed position, or vice versa, andconnected with a pipe 44 for moving it back and forth, toward or fromthe spraying position. Vhen this valve is rotated to an open position,the chemical solution will How down by gravity to the sprayer and bedischarged thereby upon the disks beneath, cleansing and thoroughlydeodorizing and sterilizing them and the contents of the receptacle. Assoon as the desired quantity of the solution has been delivered, thevalve will be rotated to its closed position by suitable means, such asthe spring 45, thereby shutting off the flow of the solution from thetank.

Te do not, in this application wish to be confined to the manner ofmounting the disks or their relative position with respect to the seatof the closet, or to the form of the tank containing the chemicalsolution, as shown in Fig. 1, as obviously this tank may extend entirelyaround the receptacle or only partially so, depending upon theconditions of the installation and the desired quantity of the solution.

In various ways the details of construction herein shown and describedmay be modified and still be within the scope of our invention.

We claim as our invention:

1. A closet comprising a receptacle, having a seat opening, a tiltingdisk having a convex upper surface disposed beneath said opening andoperating to partially conceal the contents of the receptacle, and meansfor delivering a chemical solution on the upper surface of said disk.

2. A closet comprising a receptacle having u a seat opening, a diskdisposed beneath said seat openiIig and normally concealing the contentsof said receptacle, a second disk arranged beneath said first named diskand spaced therefrom, said disks operating to break up the swash of thecontents of said receptacle, and means for delivering a. chemicalsolution upon said lirst named disk.

3. A closet comprising a receptacle having a seat opening, aninwardlyinclined wall arranged beneath said seat opening, a disk having a convexupper surface disposed beneath said seat opening adjacent to the loweredge of said wall, and concentric, substantially, with respect thereto,said disk and wall operating to break up the swash of the contents ofsaid receptacle, and means for delivering a chemical solution upon saiddisk.

4. A closet comprising a receptacle having a seat opening, a diskarranged beneath said opening and having aconvex upper surface andoperating to conceal the contents of the closet, and means fordelivering a chemical solution upon the convex surface of ysaid disk.

5. A closet comprising a receptacle having a seat opening, an uprightrod arranged beneath said opening, a disk centrally mounted on said rodadjacenty to said opening and operating to conceal the contents of thereceptacle, and means for spraying the surface of said disk. s

6. A closet comprising a receptacle having a seat opening, a rodvertically mounted beneath said opening, a tank adapted to contain adeodorizing and sterilizing solution, a pipe communicating with saidtank and adapted to swing in av horizontal plane and having oneendoverhanging said disk, a sprayer carried by said overhanging end, andmeans for delivering said solution to said pipe and sprayer.

8. A closet comprising a casing having a discharge opening and a seatopening, a tank arranged within said casing and adapted to contain achemical solution, a disk for closing said discharge opening, said tankencircling said disk and opening and forming a receptacle within saidcasing, a disk mounted within said receptacle beneath said seat opening,and means for deliveringsaid chelinicalpsolution upon the surface ofsaid dis s 9. A closet comprising a casing 4having a seat opening and' adepending flange encirclingsaid opening, a disk arranged beneath saidopening and flange and operatingy to conceal the contents of saidreceptacle, said wall having a transverse slot therein, a reservoir, apipe leading therefrom and adapted to slide in said slot and having aspraying nozzle to -direct a chemical solution upon said disk, and meansfor delivering the solution from said tank to said sprayer. t 10. Aclosetcomprising a receptacle having a seat opening, a wall disposedbeneath said seat opening and encircling the same, a

disk disposed adjacentto; said wall and cos operating therewith toconceal the contents of said receptacle, and meanspfor spraying thesurface of said disk.

11. A closet comprising areceptacle having a seat opening, a wallencircling said opening on the under side, a tilting disk disposedadjacent to said wall'and coperating4 Copies of this patent may beobtained lfor therewith to conceal the contents of said receptacle, andmeans for spraying the surface of said disk.

12. A closet comprising a receptacle, having a seat opening and adischarge opening, a valve for said discharge opening, a lifting rod forsaid valve, disks arranged one above another in said receptacle andabove said valve, the upper disk being mounted to tilt on its support,and means for spraying the surface thereof.

13. A closet comprising a receptacle having'a seat opening, a pivoteddisk arranged `beneath said seat opening and tilting under theweight ofthe eXcrement falling thereon, and a spraying nozzle mounted adjacent tosaid diskfor delivering a chemical thereon,

yone side of said disk when it is tilted assuming a position near saidnozzle. l

14. A closet comprising a receptacle having a seat open1ng,.a diskarranged beneath said seat opening, an upright standard whereon saiddisk is mounted, a tank adapted to contain a chemical solutionencircling said receptacle and means for delivering the helnicalsolution from said tank upon said 15k. A closet comprising a receptaclehaving al seat opening, a member mounted beneath said seat opening toconcealthe contents of the closet, a tank adapted to contain a chemicalysolution encircling said receptacle, a pump for said tank, and aspraying nozzle communicating with said pump and overhanging said diskadjacent thereto.

16. A closet comprising a receptacle havinga seat opening and a membermounted therein beneath' said opening, a tank adapted to contain achemical solution, a pipe mounted to swing to a position above saidkmember and to a point at oneside of the same and` havingk a sprayingdevice, and means forv delivering said solution to said `pipe andspraying device.

17. A kcloset comprising a receptacle, a

tank adapted to contain a chemical solu- HARRY Y. SCARBOROUGH. JAMES G.KING.

.'Witnesses;

.GENEVIEVE E. SORENSEN, EDWARD A. PAUL.

ve cents each, by afdressingthe. Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D.C.

